Chapter 23

"Move!"

Sven grunted as he shoved Jeff out of the way. The hallways were filled with frail individuals who had been saved from the onslaught plus the medical staff. Sven poetically referred to it as chaos. Pure chaos. In his arms was a frail bundle wrapped up suspiciously in a thin blanket, a blanket slowly dampening a deep red. The weight was unusually light and still, causing Sven's rushed pace to turn into a quick jog, the look he was casting anyone in his way scaring the wits out of them.

His lungs burned from the effort as he and the other soldiers had been exposed to the acrid and smoke filled tunnels under Zarkon's citadel. They had rescued everyone they could before the counter attack occurred. The voltron force had acted as the vanguard of the attack, seizing the opportunity to attack both Aidan and Prince Lotor at once. Sven still couldn't believe that not just a few hours before, he had been ordered to scrunch together four elite teams that would penetrate the heart of the enemy and lay a stunning surprise for them. 'If the drules don't kill me, these tunnels will.' He thought to himself as he turned another corner, searching for human survivors, knowing that there would be plenty. Pausing, he leaned his tall frame against the wall, taking a few gulps of precious oxygen as he muscles burnt for it. Limited oxygen was a drule strategy used to weaken slaves and prisoners, a constant shackle of fear that permeated the mind, making it weaker and more dependent on the next staged increase by their masters.

Conditioning at its finest.

Sven heard the hiss of the knife before it hit the wall where he had been. He trained his eyes on the shifting haze in the sparsely lit passage. He saw the shadow jump from the left to the right, hiding behind the rock pillar. Briefly, he caught a glimmer of silver before it disappeared.

"I'm from the Royal Army and I don't want to hurt you! We're here to rescue you! Please stand down!"

"Lies! You people help the drules!"

A woman, Sven thought as he put his rifle behind his back, preparing for hand to hand combat.

"I'm not lying, ma'am. We're hear on the orders of the crown to rescue any human survivors. Please come with me!"

"I'd rather die!" Sven heard the light pounding of feet on smooth ground heading his way. He grasped the lady's arm, twisting it behind her back. What he didn't prepare for was the ash blown in his face, blinding him.

"Fuck, woman! I said stay still, dammit."

"Let go off me!" she screamed, fighting to the point where Sven felt that she might rip her own arm off to escape. So he let go. She tumbled to the ground in front of him before she scurrying away into a corner. Taking a torch from his pocket, he directed the light on the girl. She was thin. Painfully thin in the thin torn knee length sack hanging off her. He could see her collarbone sticking out under her skin too much. Her blond hair was filthy and greasy, hanging heavily around her face. But for him, that isn't what captured his attention the most.

It was her eyes.

Azure blue, defiant eyes that burned right into his. Eyes he'd paused on as he read through General Aki's dossiers before this mission.

When he took a step toward her, the unprecedented happened. She lifted a sharp, pointed piece of jagged metal into the air and dug it into her side. Her defiant stare glazed over as tears fell from her eyes.

"No!" Sven yelled as he caught her before her body slumped.

Gritting his teeth, he ran to the medwing where Doctor Gorma was. If they had to save anyone, they had to save this person.

" Doctor! Emergency patient!"

"Can't you tell, Lieutenant, but I have my hands full of emergency patients." The snark retort came as the doctor busied himself with stabilising an elderly man. He had a feeling that the voltron force would keep him busy, but not this busy.

"If you don't save this patient, I'll charge you with treason, dammit!" Sven yelled at the Doctor furiously. The elderly man gripped the doctor's hand as he felt the bandage around his arm tighten a bit too much.

"Treason? Why would I be charged with treason if both the king and the Princess are safe? Don't tell me how to do my job, you hear! Now, leave that patient and leave!"

" Why don't you see for yourself if I'm making empty threats." Sven adjusted his bundle, a frail, pale arm falling out of the blanket. More annoyed by the young man's stubbornness and in his need to have the man leave, he opened the blanket around the face of the person in the Lieutenant's arms. Pale sunken blue eyes, barely conscious in a hollow, nutrient deficient face, sunken cheeks which did not move at all. If not for the tiny pulse at the hollow near her neck, it was possible to believe that the person was dead.

"Princess Romelle!"

...

Lotor saw the bright glow on the right side of his father's citadel. The man himself was outside, forearm bleeding as he straightened it out again in an attempt to control the umbra. Tremors shook him in his seat, before a soldier reported to him about damage concerning their navigation system. Lotor grit his teeth, slamming his arm on the armrest. He was dishevelled, hours of fighting the Robeast and the umbra seemingly unending. The emperor's blood proved true to the theories of Hagar: " The purer the blood, the mightier the beast. The stronger the bloodline, the further the limits.", she had crooned in ancient drule as she'd stabbed the Arusian crown prince amid his beloved's screams.

His beloved.

"My, my, what a sight you've become, Lotor. I've never seen you this frazzled all my life." A sultry voice invaded his thought. A voice full of seduction and witchery, a voice that coiled around his flesh like a serpent's.

"And your unpleasantness has unfortunately not changed. Begone!"

"Oh come now, dear husband to be, is that anyway to talk to your future queen?" Merla responded coyly, leaning forward slightly to give Lotor an eyeful of her generous chest. Her black dress and cape accentuated her glorious curves. Her hair , though, was her crowning glory. Vibrant scarlet waves that set off her beautiful face. Before Allura, Lotor had set his sights on winning Merla. And had she been keen...

" I have chosen a bride already. And you pale in comparison to her, slut." Sneered Lotor, his eyes shifting back to the monsters.

"Ah, your human pet. Strange attraction, but what can I say: it does seem to be a gene shared between father and son."

" You bitch!"

"Now, now. Verbal insults have their place. Just not when you're cowering in fear at what the council of Kings has decided. And not when you are looking at your saving grace. You are, after all, are just a Prince and I am a queen." Sneered Merla, slanting her eyes at Lotor. The difference in their stations was not merely for show. While he was dependent on his father, she depended on no one. She was his political, economic and societal superior. And she was never afraid to use it against him. Gritting his teeth, he just stared at her.

"His majesty's efforts are valiant. That is all the council credits him for. Effort. Unfortunately for you both, we do not care as you are the cause of our great empire's disgrace at the hands of those animals today. Strength and absolute control are the nature of our reign and you have proven yourselves weaker than all of us."

"After everything my ancestors have achieved , you imbeciles..."

"Achieved, being the key word, Lotor. We do not bask in fairy tales when conquests are what make us wake up everyday. Tell his majesty that the council has decided to make sacrifices for the great drule empire today."

"Sacrifices? Do you even know the meaning of the word, you cowards?!" yelled Lotor, eyes blazing as another of their fleet burst into flames, crashing and igniting the others around it. That explosion signalled the fall of more than half of their fleet. His anger was rolling off him in waves, making Merla smirk.

"The humans have dealt us a remarkable blow today, Lotor. Its been 16 hours since the human Prince caused this chaos. The council has decided to preserve the our fighting forces and pull back. For the preservation of the empire, of course." Fanning herself as she spoke, she felt Lotor's indignation at her words through the screen. 'He is such a handsome man. Vile to the core. Just like me."

" And outside of telling me that the cowards are pulling back, why have you called me Merla? What is your stake in this?"

"Did King Zarkon not tell you, Lotor? He and I had an arrangement. One that would benefit both our kingdoms. You were to be my life partner, but naturally I just couldn't decide. A Prince with potential or a king with conquests under his belt."

"You agreed to become my father's plaything? Ha, how like you Merla!" barked Lotor as he laughed. "You would be my stepmother?"

" Empress is a title I want, Lotor. Whether it is by marrying Zarkon or any drule king, it matters not to me. My initial arrangement has fallen through and I had hoped to make one with you. Now, what is a lady to do, when the slaves have taken power into their hands, hmm?." Merla asked seductively as she gazed at the umbra, watching it entangle the robeast in its arms. A man who was powerful enough to control that beast...

"YOU WANT THAT SON OF A BITCH?!"

"Lotor, I want to be empress, my dear. And you know I always get what I want. All that's happened is that you and your father have been swiped off the chess board. But, you are still useful. I want to meet the man who crushed the proud names of your family. Do that, and I assure you that I can save you. Just you, from the wrath of the other Kings. A political agreement may be the only way to stop this, you see, since they're intent on wiping us out. And It would be unfortunate if anything were to happen to that perfect, scintillating body of yours."

"Fuck you, you bitch." Hissed Lotor.

"Darling, my harem enjoy being with me. Think about my offer."

"Away from me!" Slamming the controls, Lotor cancelled the connection, seething as he stood on the command deck. He would never seek human intervention like his father. NEVER.

...

Hissing as the doctor bound his feet, Keith let his drowsy head rest on the pillow in the med wing. After getting grilled by the brass about their mad plan, they had been kicked out so that they could figure out what to do with their captives. Now, he was alone with the evil doctor who was hell bent on torturing his scorched feet. They were raw and hurt like hell. Hunk and Lance had virtually carried him to the med wing, extremely weak at this point.

" I'm bandaging them to stop some of the bleeding and help you heal. But I won't lie to you, kid. I've never seen an injury like this. And therefore I don't know if my treatments will work." Doctor Gorma stated, his eyes shifting to the Alpha lion that was lying on its side, unconscious. The damage had been shared between both souls, he noted. His patient hadn't been as difficult as the first time he'd met him, which worried him.

"Healing one without healing the other won't work."

"What do you mean, doctor? Is it that bad? When will they recover?" Pidge asked as the doctor exited the room. He was waiting with the Princess, Hunk and Lance, along a soldier to report to the king.

" The attack on drule was a great way to keep them busy and narrow down their fighting strength. But we can't lose the black now. We still have to stop those monsters. Doc, tell us our fearless leader can fight."Lance asked calmly, leaning against the wall, exhausted. He had a hunch that it was the opposite.

"If my guess is right, those injuries cannot be healed by conventional medicine since they have magic embedded in them. The umbra making contact with them caused a negative reaction that scorched their feet, like fire. None of you, not even your lions should come into contact with it. The weakness I believe is associated with the umbra sucking out their strength, but the black lion shielded the commander from the worst of it. Its remarkable that it was able to transport such a huge creature whilst doing all that shielding. But like I said, they are both weak and barely conscious. I can only suggest one thing at this point: Figure out how to transfer the power they've lost back into them. "

"How?" the princess asked quietly, not taking her eyes off her husband. The pain he must have been feeling was excruciating, but he'd held up to his promise. He'd proven himself in this first fight, but she was worried.

"You use one of the lions to share its energy with the Alpha lion. The bond between the lions and your souls is similar to that between Aidan and the umbra. Think of it like a transfusion of energy. Believe me, I'm just guessing here, but that's all I can deduce from this crisis at hand."

"I'll do it. Red's the Alpha's second, right. Outside of the black, it has the most energy." Lance volunteered, pushing himself away from the wall to get ready for the procedure, losing his balance for a second before standing up straight, which caused the frown on the doctor's face to deepen.

"Unfortunately it can't be you, Lieutenant. Its obvious that you're just as beat up as the commander. Not only that, you've been using the lion's gift too much. You're about ready to fall over. I'm a doctor, not a mad one. Having two lion pilots down is something I don't need. Besides, there's someone better who can do the transfusion."

Doctor Gorma crossed his arms and stared at the Princess calmly. She was oblivious to their conversation as she watched the commander through the small observation window in the hallway. She had just come from the command center after debriefing her father. She thanked God over and over again when she'd heard that her cousin was alive. To her, a candle of hope had been relit in her tumultuous life. Too much had been taken from her, and to have something back...she would forever be grateful, especially to the man who had rescued her family. The soldiers from Dispa were proving to be a very indispensable part of her life. Her , she remembered the statement she'd made about becoming the youngest royal widow on Arus. As she looked on her husband's pale form, she realised that it may actually come true. Sighing, she turned to her comrades and jumped slightly at the intensity the doctor was looking at her with. Lance was also staring at her as if she'd grown an extra head. Hunk was scowling deeply, concentrating at the floor.

"Who?" an oblivious Pidge asked, waiting impatiently for the doctor to answer. Oh, to be young...

...

The lava chains cast a fiery red hue in the otherwise dark prison that contained Aidan. Kneeling on the cold, steel floor, he continued to mumble and flex his deformed arm muscles. Everything he mumbled, his veins coloured a faint dark green before settling back. Suddenly he pulled the chains taunted before settling back on his heels.

"If you keep trying to escape, you'll deform yourself even more. Stop it, Aidan."

"Ha! And when have I ever listened to you, Alfor?" Sneered Aidan, watching as the brass he'd once called allies enter the room. Only one man, who was smoking a cigar, he didn't know. And that man was the only one that decided to sit down comfortably in a chair by the wall. Everyone else refused to sit.

"Ah, long time no see everyone. My, how you've aged! And by the way, weren't there more of you since the last time I saw you?" Rolling with laughter as he watched the small group of men and women tense, he decided to ease his suffering and just sit down.

"You know what happened to the rest of us, you bastard. You took them from us." Someone responded, clenching their fists.

K"That I did. I released their worthless lives as they were more useful dead. Besides, the others I just bought off with a little convincing. You'd be surprised how dark the human heart is."

"And after all of these years, your careful planning has come to nothing. How does it feel to be in the same position you've held others?" Hunter Mclain asked furiously. The man in front of him was the embodiment of death itself.

"Oy, fearless one. Heads up. He's coming. Took him long enough."

Keith turned and watched as an intimidating man with bright red hair approach him. By his gait, he knew that the older man was a seasoned soldier, one he did not want to deal with now. His eyes pinned him in place.

" I heard that, Lance. Now, leave." Huffing and mumbling under his breath, Lance picked up his guns as he headed toward his lion. His father was not a patient man, especially when in that mood. Smirking, he hoped the commander would leave the conversation with bruises. Or maybe a broken noise...

Wait, when did he started thinking of him as commander?

Standing in front of the younger man, Hunter was taken back by his resemblance to his father. At that age he remembered his friend all smiles and very relaxed. He was the voice of reason for Hunter's thought processes, even if they were going to battle. This young man's demeanour was too guarded. Too secretive for his liking. He had zero attachments and loyalties to the throne including his marriage to the princess. Even his thoughts about his future were shrouded in mystery and that meant that voltron was in the hands of someone they barely knew. Physically, he was his father's son. This battle would begin to show whether he had his father's heart as well.

"Commander Kogane, I know you know the relationship I had with your father. He was my brother and a man I respected deeply. I've been watching you and I can't say there is anything remarkable about you at all. Which means, kid, if drule is the biggest threat outside this bunker, you are the biggest inside this place. And I've come here to tell you only one thing.."

"And that is?"

"Disgrace your family name or betray what they stand for, betray these people and I will kill you."

The young man flinched slightly and Hunter saw a trace of anger in his eyes that quickly became shrouded again, the only tell tale sign of what he was feeling. If that shell of mystery needed to be broken, he was going to shatter it if he had to. They had all lost too much to entrust everything to an unstable child.

"Hypocrisy I understand is a part of some good politicians. Its strange that since my heritage has become known, i've been told what is expected of me and barely anyone has addressed how tragic you've all failed at what's been expected of you." It was Hunter's turn to burn with anger.

"You brat, what do you know about what's been happening behind the scenes? Nothing!"

"And you have no idea what's been happening in me. You have zero reason to trust me. Excellent. Neither do I trust any of you. Especially you. Don't expect me to try and prove myself to you or anyone. I will live my life for me and anyone I choose to. I owe you nothing."

"Then we have one thing we agree on, good." Walking away, Hunter stopped when he heard Keith's final question:

"If you're here threatening the life of your brother's child, I wonder what you'll do when I bring you the man who killed him."

"You don't want to know." Hunter stated as he walked away. The metal where his feet stepped on was indented and smoked slightly.

"A miscalculation. One small miscalculation is what put me here. And i'm eliminating it as we speak." Smiling proudly, he flexed his muscles again, lifting the green hue to the surface.

"You terrans are the reason I did this! Your perpetual weakness and that of your ancestors needs to be cleansed. Your mistake needs to be corrected!" shouted Aidan.

"How can you still hold on to a history that's over a thousand years old? We no longer fight for our identity on this world. We have all found means and ways to survive together, Aidan. But you never saw that, did you?"

"Of course not Hunter. For me, it was never too late to subjugate the aliens! King Alfor? King? Who's? Not mine! Just a figurehead for a well thought out lie that destroyed my family. You people turned on your own for these things!" spitting at Alfor viciously, Aidan let his scornful words roll out off him. "Do you know that my bloodline is pure? Unmixed with this filth of Arus. My family took care to investigate every family line we goy married into. My great uncles took it a step further to marry their nieces to keep our royal blood secure for the future generations of rulers from terra. Perfect blood. Yes, Hunter, I will hold on for the sake of our house. I have fulfilled the mission left for me by my forefathers. I have held on proudly!" With his head lifted high, Aidan stared down Hunter, daring him to defy the truth in his words.

Hunter though, realized what he was looking at. The man kneeling in front of him could have been Lance. It could have been the princess. It could have been Akira. Akira...Kneeling before him was a parallel reality that that young man could have taken that would have led him to this point. He realized the pain of trying to keep a father's dream alive could be destructive now. The young man his friend had left behind had been lucky to have people who steered him in the right course. Or else, he could have been lost for good.

"Your friend Zarkon is struggling out there."

"Ah. Well, it's to be expected since I did turn Emperor Zeppo into a robeast. That monster will not stop fighting until it has destroyed this planet. Aren't you scared, Hunter?"

"Of? Kogane delivered the umbra there too. Those two are busy slugging it out in drule territory. Arus has actually been saved by you. Congratulations! You're the greatest foe and hero of the human race."

"Lies!" Hunter knelt and played a recording time stamped a few minutes before, of the robeat grappling the umbra and throwing it toward a flying fortress. Wide eyed, Aidan couldn't believe how far his new empire had fallen. "You sons of bitches! What have you done to my empire! What have you done to my..." Aidan lost his cool, jerking the chains as he rose to his knees, pulling to the point of skin ripping and dripping blood onto the floor. King Alfor remained as cold as possible despite the tumultuous feelings he had. This man was the murderer of his wife, of his children. This man used to be his friend, had attended the same institution as him, had played with his children at many points in their lives. This man...was just a shadow of himself, a haunted shadow, Alfor thought sadly. 'Did you see through his facade, Kiyoshi?'

"Enough. I'm done with this. Your majesty, according to the kogane chronicles on the umbra, once the connection is severed, it cannot be remade. This man is completely useless to the umbra now. The voltron force have confirmed it. He's not even something you can call human anymore. If you don't mind, I need to kill him now." Hunter stated as he walked away from Aidan toward the control tablet.

"No one believes that interrogating you will get us any answers, nor do we want any you are willing to offer." Lady Selene stated, turning away to a secure area with the others. The 19 men and women in the room were going to witness the end of one nightmare. Finally.

"Including on how to save young Akira? Come now Alfor, surely you won't end the Kogane bloodline for me. Besides, you may not want answers from me, but you owe me answers!"

"We know that you are exacerbating his condition since he touched the umbra." Stated the King. The smirk on Aidan's face froze in place as he narrowed his eyes. They were shifting color from time to time.

"It's thanks to that man over there. We owe him more debts that we could count. He figured it out." At Alfor's confession, Aidan narrowed his eyes at the man blowing perfect 'o's from his cigar.

"Honestly , even an idiot could have fired it out. Unfortunately, that boy is an idiot. I've always told him to pick up on the not so obvious. Well, I tried."

"Who are you and what do you know!"

"I'm the guy who was entrusted with a kid by his father. Now, legally childless by the way. Either way, you made a few mistakes concerning Keith. Number one: you wrote him off when you shouldn't have. Twice, actually. His will to survive is unmatched. He survived your torture, survived when his father died and was secretly infiltrating Altaire since he was a child. Seriously, you really shouldn't have underestimated him. Number two: when you attacked Altaire and massacred his people, you had already started injecting Magnus' blood into you. Fortunately for us, when you took your time to etch your name into Keith's back, you traumatised him enough to the point that his pain resonated with the blood of the umbra within you."

"Impossible!"

"Didn't you say it yourself: energy can't be destroyed. But it can be amplified, it can react, you can pump it up with more energy right? When you made contact with him, you had zero knowledge that he was already chosen by the black lion, which made you reckless. The umbra and the lions are connected as creatures of pure energy. A few years after I started living with Akira, he would have headaches and nightmares that differed in intensity. Being the lacklustre parent that I was, I kept track of the days this happened, and for how long. Some of these dates correspond with dates when tremors were felt where the umbra are located. The boy would dream of the black lion and sometimes the umbra's memories of the time it nearly destroyed this world. I believe the black lion ended up shielding him from these dreams because at some point they stopped. You also stopped acting on the front lines as well. The best part is, some of the nightmares correspond with days that you led attacks personally on the Royal families. Now, ain't that a bitch."

"Lies!"

"Oh, I assure you. I have no luxury for lying. But that is the case. I've been searching for a solution to break your connection with him. Fortunately, i've found it and now, it's time to say goodbye. Isn't that right, my Lord?"

A flash of light blinded the people in the room, moreso Aidan's overly sensitive eyes. He opened them when he heard a few gasps. His eyes met grey eyes he never thought he would ever see again.